(Portland, Oregon) – Experts at the National Weather Service (NWS) are predicting largely drier-than usual conditions for spring along much of the western United States, with droughts continuing in many areas.

The drought looks to continue for many states, the NWS said in a recent release. States included in that prediction are California, Nevada, interior Oregon, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, southeast Colorado, western Oklahoma, and most of west Texas because of below-average rain or snow this winter and the onset of the dry season in April.

If the drought does persist in the Southwest and West, the NWS said an active fire season is likely.

Meanwhile, the agency predicts drought improvement for Washington, southeast Idaho, extreme northern and coastal Oregon, western and central sections of Nebraska and Kansas, central Oklahoma, and the Midwest.